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Discus costs come from a few things... One, wilds: Capture, Care, Water Requirements, Mortality in transport, etc... Two, captive/line bred fish: There are 3 major importers of discus that can be pushed to two major areas: Asian and German. The Stendker Brothers worked very very hard in creating some of the best fish and partner with Discus Hans to bring them to the US. These are very tap-water ready fish and have years upon years of line breedings to purify strains and colors... They also get shipped from Germany through a middle man... Its not like they come from Fl's Seagrest farms. Same generally comes from people like Kenny's Discus that you see in Judi's tank. Also the difficulty and rarity of the fish plays into cost... Penang Eruptions are a great example... They have 7 bar, 14 bar 5 bar... each bar indicates a better quality because the pattern of the fish can vary that much more. This being said... I just lost a 300 fish in my adult male. His show quality played a part in it, his pattern another and he was 14 bar.

On care / the care of adult discus is NOT what most people put out in public. If I trust you as a person I will flat out tell you 1x / week w/c of 50% is fine for a tank full of discus at 6in. However most people give advice assuming the person isnt a discus expert, may have some delays in getting their w/cs and its just overall best for the fish. discus fry (4in and smaller) require 3x a week minimum changes to obtain optimal size. They also require 6x a day feedings. That is where beef heart comes in... its easy to digest, its protien encourages growth to the tone of about 1in/mo until they get to full adult size and start to bulk out more than round.

Kevin - good research and post. Always good to have another voice confirm this.

As Judi said - Angels will outcompete some discus for food. As you can see in her issues with pairs, discus can be just as mean as angels when breeding. They can co-exist.

I do have a theory... if you were to place all one type of discus in the tank, say marlboro reds, and all types of altums... There should still be pairing but would they act more like a school being all the same color/type?

Discus costs come from a few things... One, wilds: Capture, Care, Water Requirements, Mortality in transport, etc... Two, captive/line bred fish: There are 3 major importers of discus that can be pushed to two major areas: Asian and German. The Stendker Brothers worked very very hard in creating some of the best fish and partner with Discus Hans to bring them to the US. These are very tap-water ready fish and have years upon years of line breedings to purify strains and colors... They also get shipped from Germany through a middle man... Its not like they come from Fl's Seagrest farms. Same generally comes from people like Kenny's Discus that you see in Judi's tank. Also the difficulty and rarity of the fish plays into cost... Penang Eruptions are a great example... They have 7 bar, 14 bar 5 bar... each bar indicates a better quality because the pattern of the fish can vary that much more. This being said... I just lost a 300 fish in my adult male. His show quality played a part in it, his pattern another and he was 14 bar.

On care / the care of adult discus is NOT what most people put out in public. If I trust you as a person I will flat out tell you 1x / week w/c of 50% is fine for a tank full of discus at 6in. However most people give advice assuming the person isnt a discus expert, may have some delays in getting their w/cs and its just overall best for the fish. discus fry (4in and smaller) require 3x a week minimum changes to obtain optimal size. They also require 6x a day feedings. That is where beef heart comes in... its easy to digest, its protien encourages growth to the tone of about 1in/mo until they get to full adult size and start to bulk out more than round.

Kevin - good research and post. Always good to have another voice confirm this.

As Judi said - Angels will outcompete some discus for food. As you can see in her issues with pairs, discus can be just as mean as angels when breeding. They can co-exist.

I do have a theory... if you were to place all one type of discus in the tank, say marlboro reds, and all types of altums... There should still be pairing but would they act more like a school being all the same color/type?

Oh also - on angels - they are absolutely similar in care. I have people I know hwo breed discus who take better care of their angels... always struck me as odd but it makes sense if you really think about it.